UCLA Football: Head Coach Chip Kelly Tabs Wilton Speight As Starting QB

After a long summer camp, head coach Chip Kelly has named Michigan graduate transfer Wilton Speight as UCLA’s starting quarterback for week one against the Cincinnati Bearcats.

The QB battle was ultimately down to Speight, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Devon Modster. It is not known at this time if Wilton Speight will be the QB all season for the Bruins, but he will go into week one as their signal caller.

Speight came to the UCLA Bruins as a graduate transfer this offseason, having spent the last few years at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh. Last season at Michigan, ironically enough, he went 17-29 through the air for 221 yards and two scores against these same Cincinnati Bearcats, so he does have experience against the Bruins’ week one opponent. This wasn’t the most obvious choice, but it certainly makes a lot of sense considering the fact that Speight is the most seasoned quarterback on the roster. For his career, he’s tallied 3192 yards through the air with 22 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

With all that said, the question of who is the starting quarterback has finally been answered, but other questions still remain. For example, what kind of offense will Kelly run? Will multiple quarterbacks be used during the game? How improved will the defense be at stopping the run?

All those questions and more will start to be answered this Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

Go Bruins!